


Short Exposure

by godcomplexfics (godtiercomplex)



Series: dysfunctional family funtimes [8]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Cheating, F/M, M/M, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 08:03:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9712589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godtiercomplex/pseuds/godcomplexfics
Summary: Shuu really didn’t know why he let the girl boss him around. It might be because of Haise’s rules starting to influence other parts of his life.In which Hinami realizes something is not right with Tsukiyama and Sasaki’s relationship, and tries to make Shuu see other people and is aided along by Chie.(Reposted due to Ao3 mishaps)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is Shuu in pain I’m so in love. 
> 
> Nadia's like 'Shuu's delusional but he is still smart'. 
> 
> This fic contains cheating? Does this count as cheating??? They are not in a relationship???

 Shuu was waiting for Haise to make his usual stop at the cafe one late winter afternoon. He was studying in an offhandedly manner when Hinami came into the cafe. To his surprise, she sat down across from him. He smiled at her. He was willing to make nice for as long as it would take for her to leave. However, Hinami smiled back and then shook her head at him.

“Tsukiyama-san, you and Sasaki-san aren’t really dating, are you?” She was serious and earnest and he had to admire that, even as he tried not to show her how much her directness unsettled him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well,” and she trailed off, “He never calls you his boyfriend, and he always denies that you are. Isn’t that unfair to you?”

Shuu was confused, and his smile slipped. Hinami continued,  explaining that she was concerned for them and their relationship.

“You don’t look happy when you’re together,” she said in conclusion.

“I’m happy,” Shuu said. He had been before she had sat down and started tearing at the foundation of his love life with Haise. “I honestly am confused that you think I’m not.”

“Tsukiyama-san, you don’t seem happy to me. Maybe you can’t see it, but you sometimes look on edge like you’re scared of Haise. That’s not what a happy relationship should--”

“Thank you,” Touka said, and refilled his cup without him asking, “I’ve been saying that for a while now to Haise and he just says that it doesn’t matter.”

“Well,” Shuu said, “We both know why you’ve been saying that Touka, my dear.”

“I will pour this into your lap,” Touka threatened, holding the coffee pot at ready, “Also, if you’re waiting for Haise, he already stopped by here and left.”

“Oh? Well that’s good to know. I just came in for some coffee and to read over a few job requests,” Shuu nodded down at his bag, the lies coming easily, “And since Fueguchi-san has decided to join me, I suppose I’m here to listen to her talk.”

“You don’t have to listen to me, you can go if you want to, Tsukiyama-san, but I do think you should try seeing other people,” Hinami said.

Shuu left the coffee and gathered up his bag and coat, “I don’t know what type of man you think I am, Fueguchi-san, but I’m not a cheater.”

“And yet,” Touka said, and why was she still there? “Haise insists that you’re not dating.”

“Haise says a lot of things,” Shuu said, and then left after paying the owner and not tipping Touka.

 

xxx

 

Shuu drove to the house, his unanswered texts to Haise bothering him more than usual. He comforted himself by thinking about how Haise was terribly busy constantly with the children. He knew it was more likely that Haise was in conference with Nagachika.  In the lead up to the book’s release, they were arranging for Haise to go on tour. Shuu had tried to invite himself along, but Haise had just looked at him, and his own manager had reminded him that he had modeling gigs for that time. He couldn’t let Ayato Kirishima outshine him in the one place he belonged fully, youth be damned.

Chie had worked hard to get him to where he was, and even though it was just Chie, he wasn’t going to fail and see her laugh at him. He had to keep an upper hand with her at all times.

He pulled in front of the house, and just as expected, Nagachika was parked outside and he and Haise were standing in the doorway talking. Shuu watched as they hugged and Nagachika went back to his car. Haise started to close the door but then noticed him and came to his car. Shuu unlocked the door so he could get in.

"I can't go anywhere with you, I have to start packing." Haise said and Shuu wanted to kiss him, so he did. Haise pulled away after a moment and studied his face for a moment. “I’m going to go and finish packing.”

It wasn’t a demand to leave, and it wasn’t a request to stay either, but Shuu took it as one. He followed him into the house, and greeted the brats who were off school and cramming still. They were gathered around the living room, and the only one without a school book in front of them was Saiko who had a phone and a smile for whoever she was talking to. She never offered Shuu any smiles.

“Oh, Tsukiyama’s here,” Tooru said. Urie looked up and Shirazu scowled at him, which honestly, Shuu felt was unnecessary. He had been here in this family for as long as Tooru. Arima accepted him, Mado somewhat tolerated him, and the kids just continued to hate him outright. Haise was not quite indifferent to him, but he just didn’t care.

He didn’t belong in the family, but he wasn’t going to give up the spot he’d taken for himself without a fight. Hinami could frankly take her ideas about happiness and shove them.

 

xxx

 

Haise had left for his tours, and Shuu found himself at a bookstore because Arima had sent him a text asking him if he had the time to buy a book that the children needed. Shuu wasn’t sure when Arima had gotten his phone number. He knew the man was a private investigator so it was not so much a question of when, but rather how much Arima knew about him. Haise hadn’t expressed a high interest in him in the three years they’d been dating. He had asked him just a few almost customary questions about his family, but nothing important. Arima had likely found it necessary to investigate him. Shuu wondered if Arima had shared his findings with Mado or Haise.

He had to ask a worker for help, never having to actually buy study materials for himself. He was flipping through the book when a familiar, annoying voice said, “Oh, Tsukiyama-san, I didn’t know you were still in school!”

“I’m not, Fueguchi-san. One of the children needed this so I’m off to drop it by the house.”

“I didn’t know you had young siblings,” Hinami said, looking closer at the book.

“I don’t.”

“Then . . . what children?”

“My lover’s, whose else’s would I be at a bookstore for?”

Hinami looked up at him, frowning slightly, “Isn’t Sasaki-san out of town?”

“He’s not just out of town, he’s touring,” Shuu said and then closed the book and picked up two more copies. Saiko was in a higher grade, so he couldn’t see her needing it.

“The children call you for favors?”

“Arima does upon occasion.” Shuu couldn’t get Hinami to stop following him around the store, so he gave up and bought the books.

“That’s Sasaki-san’s father right?” Hinami asked as they left the bookstore.

“Yes.” That was one way to put it. Adopted father, blood brother, person who had taught Haise all he needed to know about child care which somehow involved giving ten-year-olds knives.

Shuu was frowning and Hinami noticed.

“I’m glad I ran into you actually, Tsukiyama-san! I was thinking I could introduce you to my friend Ayano sometime soon!”

He stared down at her for a long moment as she looked up at him with a smile on her devious face.

“I am not cheating on Haise.”

“You won’t even meet her?”

“Fueguchi-san, things are just a bit tense with Haise’s book coming out. It’s just stress I assure you.”

“Hm, well, I just worry is all.”

“I’m sorry to have given you reason to worry. I really must get these books to the children before they end up failing out of middle school.”

“Yes, we wouldn’t want that! I’ll let you go then.”

 

xxx

 

He honestly did like Hinami. They had brought Haise’s valentine’s gifts last year together, and they liked some of the same books. He had felt easy around her; especially since she didn’t know the past between Haise and himself. All she saw was what they presented to her, and apparently that had eventually decayed to the point where she got concerned. What had she seen to have made her think that he was not as happy with Haise as he had been?

Things had been tense since Nagachika had handed Haise an advance copy of _The Dusk of Tanaka Taro_ and announced his tour plans in the fall. Haise had done a few appearances, but not many. But suddenly, Haise had canceled more of their evenings together than not to spend more time with Nagachika and while Shuu was unhappy with that, he knew that Haise and Nagachika couldn’t be having sex. Nagachika didn’t seem like he would knowingly sleep with someone who was taken.

Now, Valentine’s Day was around the corner, and he was facing the fact that once more he would not be able to spend the exact day with the man he loved. So maybe that did make him a bit unhappy, especially in the face of Haise’s indifference. It was hard to love Haise. He was a man who could be gentle with his children, and then rough with Shuu.

Everything Haise did was done with care, and it only enchanted Shuu all the much more that he was something that Haise had decided to take care of, even if that meant some neglect. He was fine. He was okay like this for the most part.

 

xxx

 

“He’s totally having sex with Nagachika,” Chie said as she painted her toes and then took pictures of them. Shuu wasn’t even sure why she was at his apartment. She had just been there when he came home. He’s stopped questioning it after the fifth time when he’d been eighteen. She didn’t even have a key to his place, she just appeared.  He just ignored her and kept on typing on his laptop.

“I can get evidence,” Chie said, and started painting her fingernails purple. Her toenails were a dark blue and she had other polish next to her to turn them into a midnight sky.  

“It’s pointless to paint them when you’ll just end up chewing them up.” Shuu pointed out, and went back to mapping out Haise’s touring schedule and his modeling gigs to see when they could meet up. If they could meet up.

“What kind of name is Ayano?” Chie muttered before growing louder and dripping polish on his carpet as she spoke, “Oh, sleep with her, that’ll show Haise!”

“Don’t be disgusting.”

There was a flash, and he looked down to see Chie on her back and her familiar pink camera pointed at his face, “There’s the Shuu I love. Being with Haise is no good for you. You’re getting too close, you’re no good like this.”

“I love him,” Shuu insisted. “You can just fuck off.”

Chie’s short brown hair spread out over his carpet as she brought her legs up and wheeled them in the air as she thought out loud about all manner of horrible things about Haise that had Shuu closing his laptop, and bringing his foot down on her throat after she said something along the lines of Haise fucking a girl in each city.

“Not another damn word,” Shuu watched as Chie stared at him with cold indifference and snapped another photo. Shuu waited until she flipped him off before lifting his foot off her throat. He took in some deep breaths, and went back to his laptop. Chie remained where she was, taking photographs after photographs.

“Almost,” she said, “but not quite back yet.”

“I’m right here.”

“Are you?” Chie muttered, “No, you’re not here.”

Shuu felt himself grow cold at her words, “Don’t do a damn thing to Haise or I will kill you, Chie.”

“I won’t do anything to Haise,” Chie said, “If you go on a date with someone else.”

 

xxx

 

 

“Huh?” Hinami looked surprised when he told her to set him up on a date with her friend. Shuu was pissed off beyond measure, but he managed a short, halfway decent smile. He had practice from dealing with Haise’s family. He told himself, _I am doing this for Haise_.

Chie was not someone to be taken lightly, he wouldn’t have befriended her if she was. Threats they made to one another weren’t to be taken as anything less than true. That was a clear threat. The Shuu that Chie wanted back was not going to return as long as Haise existed. They both knew that. He had changed in the years since he’d met Haise, and he hoped for the better.

“Her name was Aya or something?

“Oh, well, no. Just Ayano, and she’s really sweet, Tsukiyama-san!” Hinami looked not as excited as before, but Shuu ignored it. He ignored everything but Chie’s threat, and the fact that he just needed to do this just once, and he could move on with his life. It wasn’t cheating, because Haise didn’t consider them dating. But it was cheating, because he was forever bound to Haise, and could never see himself leaving him. It was a paradox just like their relationship had been founded on.

“Then, I will take her out on an amazing date,” he said simply.

“That’s great, Tsukiyama-san, I know you won’t regret it,” Hinami looked like she wanted to know why he had changed his mind, but held herself back from asking.

 

xxx

 

Ayano was everything he would have sought after in a life before Haise. She was quiet, and smart. She spoke some Italian, and was far too rich to know what to do with herself. Shuu didn’t even know how or why she knew Hinami, and all questions just got brushed off. She was not breathtaking, she didn’t leave him unsure. She was the embodiment of safety, what he had once actively sought out to corrupt, what had gotten him into his situation with Chie so long ago. Seducing virgins like Ayano, ruining girls like her, that was the old him.

He resented her even teeth, and he resented her passable French. He resented her clear brown eyes, and mousy brown hair. He hated the way her name flowed on his tongue.

He hated the fact that she would make someone the perfect wife, how perfectly she acted towards him, how calm and gentle she was with the clerks as he took her shopping after their lunch. She was so completely his type, and everything she did was perfected by lifelong lessons. She was the type of girl that was lined up for him to marry in an ever close future. She was his type in so many ways, and he was angried that Hinami had seen through him so easily.

But, her laugh was too soft. Her hands were too soft when he held it as they crossed a street. Her body was tiny, and petite and he knew he could wrap himself up in her curves, but that there would be no muscle there. She was weak and soft, and he just could no longer return to that, not now.

Her personality was carefully crafted, and he wanted to take her apart and see if this was all there was to her. Shuu could see Chie sometimes, off in the distance, but by the time night was falling she was no longer there.

He took Ayano to a hotel, and took her clothes off piece by piece. There were no scars on her soft body. She had been too well protected for that. He did not make his mark on her, using care and relying on whom he had been in order to try to get some enjoyment out of it. Her moans were slaps in his face, and her legs around his waist were a shoddy reminder of what wasn’t his, not exactly, not ever.

She left him warm and cold, and afterwards, she dressed herself, piece by piece.

“I’m sorry,” she said, like it was her fault. Shuu let her believe that, unable to voice that it had always been him, that even before Haise, they never would have worked. He hadn’t ever been that type of man.

 

xxx

 

Shuu checked his phone on the way home. There was a text message from Tooru telling him thanks for the books. He checked his call logs, and Haise had returned one of his calls. He checked his voicemail as the cab driver took the corners too hard for his taste.

“I’m honestly not going to be gone that long. But if you really must meet up with me, then send warning ahead of time. Goodnight, Tsukiyama.”

That was it, nothing else.

A simple goodnight, and Shuu found himself replaying the message, again and again into the night.


End file.
